Second Glances, Second Chances
by hearalay
Summary: Isabella Swan is a highschool student living and working in Forks Washington. This new school year is full of lies and deceit, but the question remains, Can she trust the new Edward Cullen? -- A.H, I would say slightly O.O.C. E B, J A, R Em
1. Chapter 1

**Second Glances, Second Chances**

By: HearAlay

**A/N:** This is my first Fanfiction, I'm trying to be elusive in regards to the summary, stay with me though. I'd prefer if you all were surprised with the course of events :).

I do not own Twilight

**-------------------- One --------------------**

One would think that living in a small town would offer some sort of comfort, knowing the same people from diapers to date nights. Well you'd be wrong. My name is Isabella Swan, Bella for short. I live in Forks, Washington with my dad Charlie.

I don't have many friends, I don't date, I have my books, my yearly visits to my moms place in Florida, Charlie and my job. Majority of the kids in town, don't have to work for a higher education, but If I ever want to get out of this dull, rainy place, I know I need to bust my butt and get in as many hours possibly before I leave this place for good. My one goal in life is to get far away from forks, like the opposite corner of the globe, how many tables do you think I'll have to bus in order to study abroad? … That was a rhetorical question, there's no way I'll make enough money to get that far away working at a diner on minimum wage, but a Girl can dream can't she?

Some days I really wish I could see what its like to live the other half, like the Laurens and Mikes of Forks, they've got the money, some would say the looks, and the connections to go far. I guess I know where I "belong" though, I'll never fit at their spot on the social ladder, and maybe I'm okay with that, I just wish sometimes it wasn't so difficult.

Let me explain a bit more about my past, most people don't know (because they would never spend the time trying!) about the reasons behind my parents divorce, but Renee (my mom) never was one for cold and damp Washington. One day, when I was 6, she just up and left Charlie to move out to Phoenix. Said she couldn't handle the rain and, well, in some ways I don't blame her, but I'm still mad she left Charlie. Charlie is the reason I stayed, it wouldn't have felt right to leave with Renee, while Charlie was all alone in Forks.

The divorce didn't officially happen until I turned 9, but I haven't lived in the same house as Renee, with the exception of 2 weeks in Florida over the summer since she left. She didn't have any resources in Phoenix, didn't know anyone, didn't have much money to her name, but somehow she made it. Renee found a teaching job at an elementary school and fell in love with the coach of the baseball team, Phil Dwyer. I make it sound like she picked up real fast but Phil and Renee were never official until about 3 years ago, when I was 14. As much as I dislike her decisions, and on occasion feel abandoned by her, I can't help but love my mom, she's wild, crazy, and young at heart. I regret that she doesn't have time for me, but I guess Charlie tries to make up for it. He really is a great father; he works hard so I shouldn't have to (were I not striving for an extremely higher education) and he gives me space, which any teenager would tell you is golden.

What about Forks though? You've heard me say it's rainy, what else is there to it? Well, really, it is rainy. It is wet. It is cold. It is damp. It is... Well... It's Washington, what more do you want? It's a tiny town, full of rich commuters working in Port Angeles or Seattle, and their devil spawn. Sorry devil spawn? Did I say that? I guess not all of them are bad, but there is one group who just make me cringe in hatred whenever I have the – _pleasure_—of being in their presence. This group consists of the Cullens: Edward and Alice, Emmett McCarty, Rosalie and Jasper Hale, Lauren Mallory, Jessica Stanley, Tyler Crowley and last, and definitely least Mike Newton. These 9 students have the honour of making my life a living hell; they harass me at the diner, tease me in the halls, and try and berate me in class. Lucky for me, I have a stockpile of witty comebacks just waiting in my brain. Not that I use them all too often, but Lauren is usually begging for it, her I.Q. is seriously in the negatives. But when they bug me at the Diner is probably the worst, they don't understand the fact that some people have to work for money, and they think it just magically appears whenever they swipe their credit card. Its like they know when I'm in a ridiculously horrible mood, and they choose those days to stop in at the diner, at the same time and order, reorder, complain and just generally cause headaches. They also just _love_ their weekly regular hangout slot, Fridays at 7 pm. Do you know how difficult it is to look after the 9 while waiting and bussing other tables? If hell had a place on earth, it would be my Friday night shifts at the diner. I don't complain though, really, it may seem like it here, but I don't. I love my job at the Diner, my boss Wendy is great, and the regulars, like Hal the school's janitor, Edna and Michael an older couple that just live around the corner, and My buddy Jacob from the Rez, help to keep me in line on those days where I feel like giving up.

-----------------

After I pulled up to school in my pick-up I made my way to 1st period aah English, home sweet home. Its funny, while most things that occur in this building make me shudder in disgust, this class and this teacher make everything worthwhile. It's almost the perfect start to every morning, or at least it would be void of Edward Cullen's presence. He thinks he is god's gift to women, that egotistical, spoiled, rude, gorgeous, gorgeous piece of man.

…Did that just slip out?

I guess I can't hide it from you any longer, Edward Cullen is beautiful, I just really wish he wasn't such a jerk, I mean really, is it so typical that the hottest man in existence, or at least that you had ever seen with your own eyes just has to belong to the stupidest, most arrogant group of people—"Isabella Swan?" Oh shit, I should be paying attention, "uh, yes Mrs. Masen?" "Could you please tell us what you think of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet?" Damn right I can, oh I mean "I think that their love is so powerful and strong, The way that they just fully devote themselves despite their horrendous social situation, its so admirable, its pure true love, it has gone through so much which just makes it all the more legitimate. And there was so much passion between them! But also, the suffering they had to go through that lead up to their eventual death, is so crucial to the strength of their relationship, they gave so much effort to try and manoeuvre around their battling families, it just speaks so much of their--"I had to stop when I heard a scoff off to the left, what is with it and people interrupting my train of thought today? "You would believe that bullshit Swan." Mrs. Masen tried to interrupt, but I wouldn't let her, "Excuse me? Is there something wrong with what I think?" "Yeah, I think there is, you see Romeo is a dipshit. The fact that he didn't have the balls to stay with Rosaline, and ran after that skank Juliet, just shows how much of a pansy he is. True love and passion my ass."

Wow, its like he's trying not to make sense! I thought everyone understood the love that Romeo and Juliet shared, its just so blatantly obvious! "Excuse me? What the hell would you know about true love and passion? The only relationship you have is with your mirror!" I yelled back. "Admit it Swan, you want a piece of this", ooh yes, yes I do Edward. I mean NO! " For the love of all that is holy--"

"Bella and Edward, kindly desist, or would you prefer to continue this argument after class, in our comfortable and spacious detention hall?" When I looked to Mrs. Masen, she looked relieved to have finally gotten a word in, oops, I didn't realise it got so heated so quickly. "Sorry Mrs. Masen, it won't happen again" I hope she believes me; it was never my intention to disrupt her class. "That's quite alright Bella, you and Edward have inspired me to maybe try our share at a few debates this year? What do you say class?" I looked over at Edward and saw him grinning while all that could be heard after Mrs. Masen's question was a smattering of groans, and one or two sarcastic comments from around the class. "Okay class, not today, but don't think that I'm not considering it!" Before I could turn back Edward mouthed to me "Your place or mine?" Whoa! What? I felt myself blushing and couldn't turn quickly enough. What was that supposed to mean? Okay Bella, calm down, he's a jerk; he's probably just trying to get a rise out of me.

The rest of the class continued on in a slightly less exciting fashion, I'd practically memorized the story at this point in time so contributing to discussion from then on didn't require too much effort on my part. I spent the rest of class paying attention, and keeping my eyes, and my blush away from Edward Cullen. As soon as the bell rang I jumped up quickly grabbing my things, so I could run off to my next class. Hopefully I won't run into anyone in the halls, before trig today. Lauren is usually kicking somewhere around here this time of day, I bet she'll just love what I'm wearing today.

Before I could go any further, I felt a cool breeze on my neck, "You didn't answer my question Swan, what'll it be?" I was frozen… wait what happened? What is he talking about? "Wh-what?" I could hear the tremor in my voice, and could feel the blush creeping over my pale flesh once more; I just hoped I was the only one. No Bella, get a hold of yourself. "Come on Swan, your place or mine?" "I – who? What? NO! God no! Gross never, Edward you disgust me!" Yeah, play it cool Bella, so cool, who would ever believe that with the stuttering in your speech.

I could feel his breath even closer now, as his breathing slowly sent chills down my spine, and I heard his reply. "Stop denying yourself the pleasure Swan, everyone knows you want me." I had to get out of there, fast, I jus—I felt lips on my neck. I felt soft, beautiful lips on my neck, wait Edwards lips, on my neck, Edwards lips on my neck? I think I just let out a squeak, talk about embarrassing. I spun around quickly, almost losing balance but checking myself last minute, "Get away Cullen, now, j-just leave me alone." I managed to get it out, I had to, I know the only reason he does this is to make fun of me. He smirked a little and raised his eyebrow, that sexy crooked smile, but he didn't push me any further, and I allowed myself to take a few steps back before turning and almost sprinting to Trigonometry.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, and wow… WOW! I can't believe that just happened, I couldn't have just let that happen, there is no way that happened!

Okay, breathe Bella, your cheeks are back to normal, your breathing is back to normal, your life, sadly, is back to normal. Just get through this day and you will be okay. Just finish up trig, move on to lunch, sit through Bio, and deal with gym, you can do this, you don't have to see hear or speak to Edward Cullen anymore today. Wow, Edward Cullen, lips on my neck. On BELLA SWAN'S NECK! Wait, did I just say Bio? Edward is in bio… Edward sits beside me in Bio. I let out an audible groan, could this day get any worse? I can't be around him without turning absolutely fire engine red after what happened just now.

"Hey Bella, are you alright? You look as though you're waging an internal war between life and death? Why so serious?" I heard my friend Angela through the smog that was my thoughts. "Oh, sorry, I guess I just got distracted… thinking about the, uh, things? And what...I… am. …Going... to... do... About those…uh things?" Smooth Bella, because that doesn't just scream that you horrendously attempted to make that one up on the spot. "Oh, alright Bella, if you need anything let me know. I know we don't hang out much, but I'm here." Angela told me after my blunder. "Thanks Ang, that means a lot to me." It really does, remember I told you I don't have many friends? No no, Bella Swan's best friend is the librarian at Forks public library, and even then, well its not like the woman has a choice I'm there pretty much everyday that I don't work. Which, granted is not often, but that's not the point. Point is, Angela is sweet and I should make more of an effort.

The bell rang. Time for lunch, ooh boy. Okay, calm down Bella, lunch, bio, gym that's it. Keep your head up the day is _almost_ half over. I attempted to walk confidently from the room, but all that faltered when my toe caught on the edge of the doorway. Great, just great, I thought as I prepared myself to meet the floor. I put out my arms, and was surprised when I felt a familiar sensation that was much softer than the expected floor. Too familiar, uh oh. "I thought Swans were supposed to be graceful" he drawled out in his beautiful voice, Edward, yeah you guessed it.

Were you wondering why his arms feel so familiar to me? Well let me give you a small sampling, I think the first incident was around 9th grade, walking through the lunchline, stepped in some spilt Jello and before I could meet the floor was caught by Edward Cullen. Then there was the time in the grocery store, I was reaching for a box of cereal on a high shelf, and when I stumbled back, into Edward, might I add, I again felt the need to get horizontal with the floor, where again, Edward had the skill to catch me before I went down. There was also the homecoming assembly of 2005, the last day of History last year, the first day of Biology this year, and many, trust me, many others.

I finally snapped back to the present only to realise we'd been blocking the doorway for quite some time now. I regained my vertical position, thanked Edward tersely and walked away. Nicely done, not even a glance behind Bella. But again, only I could have this luck, I distinctly heard him exhale and his footsteps following me "Go away Edward" maybe he'd get the message today.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, babe, someone's got to watch over you to make sure you don't hurt yourself" Wow babe? That sounds good, too good. Uuughhh seriously brain, can I get a reprieve just for today? I'm trying to be good. "Edward 'I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself, thank you for your concern, but I'm afraid it is unnecessary Now if you'll excuse me--" "Can't do that Bella, I need your help with something." My help? Need my help with what? "What makes you think I'd want to help you?" I replied, trying to inflict at least a little venom into my words.

Edward grabbed my arm, and pulled me aside. I noticed that there were less people around than there were before. "I really need your help, I wouldn't ask, but … I'm failing English" He was looking straight into my eyes as he said this and I could feel his sincerity. "What? But you're smart?" wow, good one Bella. Me Jane, you Tarzan. He scoffed at that one. I was not surprised. "I meant to ask you earlier, but was a little… distracted. Mrs. Masen decided that since we seemed to respond so passionately to each other's ideas in class today that you would be an ideal tutor. I just can't seem to wrap my head around what she wants us to believe in these god-awful plotlines. So what do you say Swan? Want to be my tutor? I'll make it worth your while." He added the last part with a little smirk in my direction.

"No, sorry, Edward but I don't have the time, unlike most students here I actually need my part-time job" Its true, plus I don't see how spending more time with Edward will be good for my brain, and oh lord what will Lauren do? She'll think I asked him! "Please Bella, you're the only one who can help me. I know you can find maybe one or two hours a week...?" I looked into his dreamy green eyes as he asked for the second time and couldn't help but feel how genuine he seemed. I felt my resolve breaking, sighed, time to cave, "I can make time for you after school on Fridays, I don't work until 5pm. you've got 2 hours every Friday Edward. We'll be meeting at my place, and you will not share any of the information discussed with anyone at Forks high. No one will know of our agreement. Understood?" The smile that replaced the pleading look on his face was breathtaking. "Got it Swan, see you in a few days." With that, we both walked the final 8 steps to the cafeteria and went our separate ways.

The rest of the day went by smoothly, I managed to sit through biology with little disturbances from Edward, and I must admit, I was starting to enjoy our increasing banter. Usually he limits himself to taking stabs at my apparent lack of experience with boys, and my total lack of coordination, but today seemed to turn over a different leaf. He slipped me a piece of paper as I got up to leave, but I didn't stop to see what it was, and simply placed it in my pocket to await a more isolated viewing environment.

Gym passed by quickly and without any major incidences, before I knew it I was back in the safety of my pickup. I rolled out of Forks parking lot without a backward glance and made my way home to analyze my day I'm sure.

---------------- End ---------------


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Alright, this is coming along kind of nicely I guess. I'm trying to keep up with this at least a post a week, and so far I'm a little off! haha. It was pretty hard to pop this one out though considering I had 2 essays to procrastinate while I worked on this.

I wanted to shout out to "Fall Down Again Bella", (I meant to in my first post, but I don't quite understand FF yet so I couldn't figure out how to change it lol) talking to her over FF got me pretty motivated to start my own story! So thank you sooo much! And everyone if you're reading this, go read her stories too!

Hope you enjoy this chapter! I worked pretty hard on it, and it starts to set up some personalities, you haven't met everyone yet, but give it time and you will!

Disclaimer yet again: not mine.

------------------------- Two -------------------------

As soon as I walked in my front door after school that day, I threw down my bags and pulled out his note from my pocket. With shaking hands I unfolded the note, ready to be bombarded with insults or tacky come-ons.

_Bella, Thank you for agreeing to tutor me. I know that you're a busy girl and I can't express my gratitude enough. I know in the past we've had a rocky relationship and I hope that won't affect any of our future tutoring sessions. _

_Looking forward to Friday, _

_Edward Cullen_

I felt the return of my blush, and the butterflies returned to my stomach. He's looking forward to Friday? Wait, he called me Bella! He never calls me Bella; he's always mocking me with my last name or bugging me with Isabella. That's a good thing, I definitely didn't expect to see that in his note, or any of what was written really. Maybe tutoring Edward won't be so bad, I mean, besides that, the extra cash will be pretty nice.

After reading the note, I gathered up my things and went upstairs to get ready for work. I pulled on my uniform quickly, grabbed an apple and was out the door.

I walked into the busy little diner just 5 minutes before my shift started to see my best friend in the whole wide world, Jacob. He turned to look when the door signalled my arrival

"BELLY BELLS! " He hollered from his usual spot while sipping a hot chocolate. "Hey Jake what's up?" I replied after snagging the stool beside him. "Not much Bee. How was your day?" See, here's where the best friend bit comes in, Jake always understands everything, even when I myself don't. "It was… interesting. I'm now the _proud_ tutor of Edward Cullen" I watched his face while I spoke just waiting for it – yeap, there's' the eyebrows I know and love. "Edward Cullen? Bee you cannot be serious. That boy tries his dandiest to make sure your life is a living hell, or uncomfortable at best, and now you're willingly spending time with him?" "Well he is paying me, so technically that is the main motivating factor." Jake sighed, "Just be careful Bells, I don't want him to be able to hurt you on the outside too. You call me if he starts acting like a creep and I'll come right over okay? When did you find the time in your schedule to tutor him anyway?" I checked the clock and saw that my 5 minutes had passed; "Before work on Fridays, and I promise Jake, thanks" I leaned over to give him a quick hug and slipped behind the counter.

"Hey Wendy, what's up for today?" I asked my boss as she finished up with an order. She greeted me with a huge smile and replied, "I'd like you to restock the washrooms, roll some of the cutlery, and then when the dinner rush gets here you can help me take orders, alright?" "Sounds good Wendy, I'll head back right now."

I grabbed the jug of soap and some toilet paper rolls and headed to the washrooms. After refilling and restocking I headed back to the front grabbed the tray f cutlery and a stack of napkins and took a seat next to Jake. Rolling cutlery is easy work, I love it when Wendy gets me to roll while Jake is still here, its like social hour at work, mindless, monotonous task, with pleasant company, how can you go wrong?

"So Bee, what are your plans for this weekend? Got any room for you're favourite over here?" He pointed to himself with a cheeky grin as he stated that last bit. "Well, I was thinking some laundry, some homework, some reading and maybe some organizing. So, as you can see my weekend is just so jam packed with fun I just don't think I'll have time for you" I said sarcastically, he looked past me at the door "Oh sorry, just waiting for my friend Bella to show up, have you seen her? She seems to have been replaced by this boring woman next to me." "Ha ha funny Jake" out joking banter kept going for a little while, until it was time for Jake to head home. I had a few more cutlery sets to finish and then it would be pretty close to dinner rush.

"Alright Bella, put away that cutlery and get ready for the rush, its going to be big tonight, there's a little league game finishing up down the block and they are usually pretty hungry" Wendy was laughing as she prepared me for tonight's rush. "Wendy, how long have I been working here? I think we can handle it." With that conversation over, I tidied up the front counter for a little while, and got out my order sheets and a pen, some change and put on my apron. I served a few tables that night, a family of four, an older couple and two teens I didn't recognize that seemed to be on a date. When my shift was over I helped clean up then made my way home.

It seemed like a pretty anticlimactic end to a pretty nerve wracking day, but I guess it had to end somehow; I wonder what tomorrow will be like. With that I had a quick shower, and got ready for bed. As I attempted to doze off though, I had the strange feeling that everything from here on in was about to change.

-------------------------The next day -------------------------

Shit, shit shit shit I am going to be so late! I threw on jeans and a hoodie, grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water and raced out the door. Why won't this truck move faster! Oh, I'm going to be so late.

Finally! I pulled my truck into the closest parking spot and sprinted towards the building, threw open the doors and ran down the deserted school hallway. I was nearing my classroom so I slowed my pace a little so I wouldn't be too out of breath. I grabbed the door handle and spilled into the room, literally, I went flying, my bag went flying, my water bottle rolled under the nearest desk, while I watched from my lovely spot, lying face down on the floor. I groaned and rolled over to see my entire class and Mrs. Masen giggling and holding their sides. Slowly picking myself off the floor, followed by all my things I made my way to my seat and sat with my burning face in my hands.

"Thank you for joining us Bella, you have a talent for lightening the mood. Are you alright?" Mrs. Masen asked with a kind smile on my face. "Yeah, just a little spill, no biggy" I replied, still looking at the desk, tracing the wood grain with my fingers. I wonder if I can just stay in here all day. Mrs. Masen handed me a worksheet, "This is what the class is working on, it's not due for another two days, until Friday, but I've decided to allot some class time on it." "Thank you" I replied and looked down at the sheet on my desk. Reading it over to myself I realised it would be quite easy, just a few questions on the main topics of Romeo and Juliet. I looked over the first question.

_What effect does the accelerated time scheme have on the play's development? Is it plausible that a love story of this magnitude could take place so quickly? Does the play seem to take place over as little time as it actually occupies?_

Easy I thought to myself as I began to answer. I wrote down the answer quickly and moved on to the next question and continued through the page quickly, I was almost done when I heard the bell ring. I looked up, surprised at how quickly class had flown by, gathered my things again and took off for Trigonometry again.

I made it there quickly without fuss, and sat through the class without anything else exciting going on. We worked on our homework sheets in silence until the lunch bell rang.

I walked out of trig with Angela and we headed toward the cafeteria line-up. "So, I really like Ben, but he doesn't seem to be all that into me." Angela whispered to me softly. "That's crazy Ang, he's just shy that's all. I swear he likes you, but maybe you'll have to be the one to make the first move in this situation." I replied back in the same soft voice. "Think I can really do it Bella?" she sounded optimistic, and she definitely should have "Of course! What have you got to lose?" We finished grabbing our food, I got a bagel and an apple, Angela grabbed a salad and a bun, and we made our way over to our table.

When we got there, we saw the usual crowd, which included myself, Angela, her crush Ben, Eric Yorkie and a few other shy kids I don't know too well, Amy, Kate and Lawrence. I looked to the left and saw the nine at their table, when Jessica and Lauren saw me they gave me matching sneers, so I quickly moved my gaze. "Well, guess somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning" Ben joked at my expense. I looked down seeing my messier than usual attire and sighed, "I know right, I was so late, and then when I got into English I tripped in the doorway, sent myself and my stuff flying, and gave myself a huge headache in the process. " This new information sent Angela and Ben into a fit of matching giggles, while Eric just looked sorry for me. "I know how you feel," Eric said "I was running late a few days ago and managed to come to school with my shirt on inside out and backwards, and I forgot my notebook at home, so I was pretty much useless… but at least I didn't fall down in front of an entire classroom". His tone turned joking with the last comment. "Oh shut up." I replied with a fake sneer, Eric was a sweet kid, and he seemed to sympathise with my shortcomings in high school. While he may have a better sense of balance, I've gotta tell you, that's not the first time I've heard of a clothing mishap in his lifetime. Our table made small conversation for the rest of lunch.

I got up to throw out my garbage, and when I turned around I walked straight into Lauren, who managed to spill her opened pop all over herself and me. "Oh, my god!" She screeched, "Do you know how much that shirt cost me? Ew, it's like, totally dirty now, you're so going to have to pay for it," Lauren raged while scowling at me. "I'm sorry Lauren but it wasn't entirely my fault, you were standing right behind me." She continued to glare at me, " I'm so sure Swan, everyone knows how big of a klutz you are, how could you think it was my fault? You're such a freak!" I grabbed some napkins and offered her some, trying to help the situation, but she just scowled at me "Honestly Swan, you're such a pain to, like, everyone. I wish you would just leave, no one wants to be around you." I looked down and felt my eyes prick, I felt the pain of my mother leaving me in that moment, she couldn't know, but it was true. I saw another set of footsteps approach, "Like oh my god, Lauren she totally wrecked your shirt and I totally saw her do it! What a loser! She's totally just jealous of us, come on lets go, I think I might have a shirt in my locker you can borrow." With that comment Lauren and her stalked off, but not before Lauren yelled back, "You'll pay for that Swan, just you wait." When they were out of sight, I quickly made my way back to Angela and the boys and sat down with my face in my hands. I didn't even do anything wrong. I hate that they make me feel so vulnerable, I can't even make an argument be heard around them either because they're too thick to listen! Ugh I'm so frustrated! "Bella, its okay, you didn't do anything wrong, Lauren just likes to pin the blame so she doesn't look like an idiot." Angela rubbed my shoulders soothingly. "Come on," she added "You're going to be late for Biology." With that, we got up and left for our lockers, waving goodbye to Ben and Eric.

When I got to biology I was happy to see Edward wasn't in his chair yet. I really didn't feel like facing one of the nine after what just happened. I got out my notebook and lazily doodled on the cover, I heard the chair slide out beside me, and saw another notebook and a pair of arms appear on the tabletop. "Listen, I'm sorry about Lauren she can be a jerk, but she was definitely out of line back there" I was surprised to hear him apologizing for his friend. I briefly glanced up to meet his face, happy that no tears had actually spilt today, and replied "Thanks Edward, but I'm fine." He gave me a small smile and we turned out attention to Mr. Banner.

"Today's class will be focusing on alternative methods to animal testing, and seeing what these methods entail. You realise that coming up shortly we will be dissecting frogs, but I'd like you all to do some research on methods excluding the use of animals in a harmful way. Lets get started shall we?" and with that, he continued his lecture using transparencies to show us what we needed to prepare for the coming weeks.

The bell rang and before I could stand up, Edward gave my shoulder a slight squeeze and a small smile. My heart fluttered at his touch and I made my way to gym class in a slight daze due to how nice he had been lately. It really felt like he was turning over a new leaf, strange, but I guess I'll really find out on Friday when Its just him and I at my house. Alone. In my house… alone. Edward and I Oh my? Did I really agree to that? I felt another tingle in my heart at the thought of 2 hours uninterrupted with Edward, and had the snaking suspicion that it might just be all right.

I entered the gym and immediately paled, for there set up before me seemed to be quite possibly the worst activity known to Bella Swan. Badminton. Oh crap, last year this did not go so well at all. Entrusting me, klutzy Swan, with a birdie and a racket seemed innocent at first, but the danger I could evoke on other with this projectile combination was atrocious. I sighed. Well, here goes nothing. I walked through the gym into the change rooms and changed quickly. When I came back out Coach Carr had called everyone together to sort into partners. I was paired with Mike Newton, great I get an hour with that pervy jerk. "Hey Bella, why don't you get the front of the court and I'll stand back so I can watch your cute little toosh from over here." I looked at him as he was talking and he had the most disgusting smirk on his face. I scowled then replied, "Mike you're absolutely disgusting, I hope you rot in hell!" Harsh I know, but trust me, if you'd seen the look he gave me; you'd be harsh too. "I love it when you talk dirty to me" he responded again, but before I could offer any backlash coach whistled and called the game to. I looked to whom we were playing and for the millionth time today, it seemed, my face paled significantly, it was Lauren and Jessica. Great, just great!

I watched as Mike served the birdie, and watched again and Jessica hit it back towards them. I tried to just stay out of the way entirely, as I knew what would happen if I tried to get involved, but apparently that was not life's plan. Lauren hit the birdie aiming straight at my face with such force, that all thought went out the window and I threw my arms up to protect my face. Thankfully it worked, no birdie to the face, I heard a grunt behind me though. I turned and saw Mike clutching at his own head and my badminton racquet close by his feet. "You bitch! Look what you did to my poor Mikey!" Jessica ran over and nuzzled Mike's face into her chest cooing words that were probably meant to be soothing.

"I'm so so sorry Mike! I knew it was a bad idea, this is even worse than last year! Are you alright?" I said in a panicked voice. By this point Mike had straightened up and there was a slight red mark on his forehead. "You know Swan, when I imagine you and anything involving my head, it usually doesn't occur above my shoulders." He replied, seeming to be just back to normal. I was beyond disgusted, infact I think I just puked in my mouth a little bit. "Mike," I tried to make my voice as calm as possible, "I am very sorry for causing you pain, but if you could please refrain from speaking to me about anything like that ever, that'd be great. I'd love to keep my lunch down today if you don't mind." A crowd had gathered at this point and coach stepped forward to mitigate the situation, "All right everyone break it up, let's get back in the game. Mike you can head down to the nurse if you need to, and Bella I think it will be wise if we just let you sit the rest of this one out." I walked to the wall and sunk to the floor, but not before receiving two matching death glares from Lauren and Jessica. I couldn't wait for the bell to ring signalling the end of the day, and when it finally did I quickly dressed and made my way to my truck. I got there just as Edward was pulling out with his Volvo, he gave me a small smile and I smiled back. I jumped in my truck and headed home, stopping at the diner to grab a milkshake (come on, who wouldn't want comfort food after a day like that?) and to check in with Wendy. She asked me to stop in today after school to see if they would need me.

After finding out I had the night off, I made my way home, desperate to get on the phone and just speak nonsense with Jake.

He picked up on the third ring "Hello, hello. You have reached the wonderful and elusive Jacob Black, how may I be of service on this fine Wednesday afternoon?" "Hey Jake, its me," I replied, "I just had a crappy day, can you please just talk my ear off for me?" "aww, sugarpants, I won't ask if you don't want to talk about it, but I hope you know that you are the sunshine in my life, you are the apple of my eye, you are the banana to my split, you are the salt to my pepper, you are the--" "Enough Jake, stop, I get it" I managed to get out between laughter, "Thank you, I think that just made my day worth it, you're an absolute doll". "Whenever you need me, whatever for Bells, always… now you can't see me but I just winked, k bee?" I laughed "got it, now how was your day?" "It was awesome, Leah sat beside me at Lunch today and laughed at my jokes and she even let me walk her to class after." "Aww Jake that's so great! When are you going to ask her out? OHH! I know! Bring her to the diner! That way you don't have to waste time calling me after to tell me how it went you stunner." I was beaming while talking to Jake, he had the biggest crush on this girl, and well how could you not like him? He's like the family pet, such a softie. "Oh god, never Bells, that'd be morifying" Our chatter went on like this for a while, until I decided to get started on dinner for Charlie and myself. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. When I finally was able to lie down for bed I was out cold in minutes.

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**A/N:** Thanks for reading! And if you know anyone who might like this story, share the link! I'd love some more feedback.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait, I meant to have this chapter done a bit earlier, but last week was a midterm Exam in enviro sci and two rediculous essays! I'm hoping to get you all another chapter sooner, as it's my reading week and I'm really anxious to get this story going (I already have the climax written so I'm excited to get to that point!)

I'm loving the feedback I've been getting so far, so enjoy the 3rd chapter of Second Glances, Second Chances.

-------------------------------- Three ----------------------------------

Thursday passed by in a daze, nothing really exciting happened with the exception of my major wipe out in gym class. I worked a pretty boring shift at work and was home early enough to get a decent amount of sleep for today, Friday. It's _the_ day today, the first time I'll be tutoring Edward Cullen after school.

I got ready for school quickly and in the few minutes I had left before I had to leave I cleaned up the house a little bit and move my more embarrassing pictures into Charlie's study. Edward does not need to see my seventh grade photo complete with black eye and braces, or kindergarten, the one time Renee got to dress me for school. I have never seen so many pink bows in my life.

I finished rearranging the photos in the living room, and giving a quick glance around the room for any other potentially embarrassing artifacts before running out to my truck, and arriving at school on time.

I made it to English class on time and sat in my seat with enough time left to quickly check over my assignment from Wednesday before handing it in to Mrs. Masen. Mrs. Masen then turned to the class and said, "Now class, today I want you to partner up and go over some of what you think are the major themes present in Romeo and Juliet and at the end of class I'll give you your next step." Before I could even glance up I heard the squeak of a chair being pulled towards me and felt another body lean in towards me. "Hey Swan, mind if we partner up today, you know as a preview for tonight?" I heard the voice of Edward say from my right. I looked up to meet his eyes and gave him a quick nod, not quite trusting my voice at that moment in time.

"Okay so, where should we start?" He looked to me to begin. "Well, there is the obvious theme of love in the story, the main characters fall in love, it is love that keeps them together and eventually pulls them apart, etc. but there are also some other themes that I feel are pretty.... dominant too, like violence as well as fate. What do you think about those?" I asked looking to him for some kind of feedback. "Well personally I think fate is pretty hoaky, it's all just coincidences, but I agree on the violence and love parts… Do you think maybe it's the love that causes the violence?" He looked down while he spoke almost self-consciously but my breath caught as he looked up from beneath his eyelashes. "Y-yeah that's a good point," I stumbled out with, "There's definitely a connection between the two."

The rest of the class went on with simple discussion between us never straying from the topic at hand, until Mrs. Masen brought our attention to her again. "Alright everyone, I've been surveying the room and it looks as though you've all given pretty well to discussion at this point. I'd like each of you to write a paper on one of the themes you discussed and argue whether you think that it was a necessary element to the progression of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet and their eventual demise." She continued with "I expect a minimum of 1000 words and it will be due exactly a week today, so use the weekend wisely class and get started on it!" I heard a few muffled moans around the room and looked to Edward but before I could ask anything he got out of his chair and moved back to his desk just as the bell rang.

The day seemed to fly by as I was now on my way to lunch with Angela. "Hey Bella do you want to do something this weekend? Maybe work on our trig homework together and watch a movie or something?" She asked while grabbing an apple from the cafeteria service. "Yeah that sounds great, I work until about 3:30-4 on Saturday do you want to come over after that? I can swing by and pick you up on my way home." I looked towards her," Sounds good" she replied. After making plans we sat down with the boys for lunch. I spent the majority of lunch trying to explain to Eric that I didn't understand his fascination with Role-playing. We were laughing and joking with each other and fully engrossed in our conversation until the bell rang. With a bit of a shock at how quickly lunch went by I jumped up and turned into the direction of biology only to walk straight into what felt like a wall. I went down hard and when I looked up I was met with booming laughter and a large masculine figure. I took a closer look at who was there when I was confronted with a grinning Emmett McCarty.

"How are you doing down there Swan?" he asked while he offered out his hand for me. I felt the familiar flush of my cheeks, "Sorry I didn't quite see you there" I mumbled out looking at the floor. "I find that hard to believe," he replied with a chuckle "considering I'm about 3 of you across and 2 of you tall." I started walking towards the exit and gave out a nervous giggle. I was almost at the doors when I heard Emmett yell across the remaining distance "Thanks! That's the best free entertainment I've gotten in a while! Feel free to re-enact that one anytime Swan." At this point I couldn't wait until I got to the safety of the biology room.

I reached the doors of the classroom just as the bell was ringing, walked in with a quick apology to Mr. Banner and found my seat. I let my still fire-engine red face fall to my arms on the desk with a slight groan upon impact. Why me? Can I really not go one day without something embarrassing happening? I hate the attention; maybe I could go through some rigorous psychological treatments and get a new sense of balance. I doubt that exists. But a girl can dream can't she? I finally got up the courage to bring my head up from my arms and turned to my right to see Edward with his eyes alight in humour and a ridiculous grin covering his face. "I'm so glad I stayed in the cafeteria until I did today," He whispered while looking at me "are you alright? I thought you just lost your footing around me, since I'm just so irresistible, but apparently you've got a little something for Emmett too." I blanched and heard him chuckle softly, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Ugh! Did he have to go there? What happened to the nice Edward of a few days ago? Apparently he's not a permanent fixture. "Screw you Cullen" I dropped my head back onto my hands. "Time and place Isabella… time and place." I heard him say. Wait what?

Oh god! My mind is slow. That prick! But what a gorgeous prick he is. I let out another mortified groan and faced the front of the classroom attempting to pull the knowledge from Mr Banner's monotonous lecture.

I ignored Edward for the rest of class and it went by slowly. When the bell rang I was ready to leave and all but sprinted out of my seat and towards the door. I heard heavy footfalls behind me and was stopped by a hand on my shoulder pulling me back.

"Listen I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad or embarrass you or anything" it was Edward. "It's fine," I replied, "Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go to gym class" I shrugged out of his grip and took two steps further. "Wait, are we still okay for today … later?" he called after me. "Yeah we're fine see you after school." And with that I went to gym and finally got myself some breathing room from the mortifying events that were my afternoon.

I was happy to hear upon entering the gym that today would be a health lecture instead of physical activity. No way to hurt myself there. It seemed as though the bell for the end of the day rang only minutes after sitting down to listen to the coach talk about vitamins and getting proper nutrition and I was on my way to the parking lot.

I saw Edward get into his Volvo and give me a noted glance while I made my way to my truck. I pulled out of the parking lot and saw in my rear-view Edward following fairly close behind. I arrived home in minutes and as I got out of my truck Edward parked on the side of the road and got out. He met me at the front doors and I unlocked and opened it.

All right here goes, Edward Cullen will be in my house for the very first time, and I have to be coherent. I lead him into the kitchen and hung up our coats on the wall, making my way over to the kitchen table I grabbed my backpack and pulled out my books.

"So… " I drawled out, "Where should we start?" "Well, I was hoping we could just start writing our papers together, I think I get it enough, but I just don't really know what Mrs. Masen wants to hear exactly… so if you can help me at least start it… that'd be great" He was looking at me intently as he spoke, I felt vulnerable under his gaze. I bit my lip while thinking and saw his eyes move to where I was biting for a moment. "Okay, well what theme do you think you want to focus on for your paper?" I asked and he responded with the topic of love resulting in violence. Our session continued at a pretty good pace for a while, I helped him format his ideas into something Mrs. Masen would want to read and he seemed to be really picking up. Although he seemed not to need too much help to begin with, everyone knew Edward Cullen is smart. It was nearing 4:30 and I had to start to wrap up our tutoring session so I could get ready for work.

"Okay, I think we were pretty productive, how do you feel about the paper now?" I asked him. "I feel pretty good, It all just made more sense once you started helping me, I really appreciate this." He replied while digging in his back jean pocket. "This is for today, I didn't really know how much to give you but I hope that this is enough" He handed me a small wad of bills. I felt kind of guilty accepting them considering it really wasn't hard work for me to stare at his beautiful face for a few hours. "I.. well I guess that's fine?" I stumbled out awkwardly, "I have to get ready for work though, so I guess I'll see you next week. Good luck finishing your essay, and if you need some more help just ask." I grabbed a piece of paper to write my number down for him. I handed him the slip and he smiled appreciatively. "Thanks so much Bella, have a good weekend" he replied and with one last smile he grabbed his coat and was out the door.

I sat glued to my seat for a while just relishing in the aftermath of Edward's presence in my house. I couldn't really deny myself anymore. I knew I had a crush on Edward Cullen and I knew that it was getting to be a pretty big one. But what I didn't understand was how he could be one way with me alone and totally different when our peers surround him. I know I'm probably looking way too deep in this and he's just really thankful I'd give up my time to help him out… but I can't help but have the strange feeling that there is something more to Edward Cullen. Something more, that I know I want to find out.

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**A/N**: I was going to continue on to her first Friday night shift at the diner, but I was just really anxious to get this chapter out!

-Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you're noticing the development of the story, If you're confused just ask me and I'll try and explain it.

Keep up the reviews! they make my day fantastic! :D:D


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: The latest instalment of Second Glances, Second Chances. Enjoy! And as always I appreciate any feedback you're willing to spare for me!

Disclaimer: Twilight = not mine.

----------------------------------------- Four -----------------------------------------

Half an hour after Edward left I was standing in the diner taking orders for my Friday night shift. I really like working at the diner, it's a calm mindless and relaxing social atmosphere. When these people come in to eat here I don't have to worry about being clumsy Bella Swan. I mean sure my classmates come here all the time, but no one besides the nine are ever exclusively rude to me or anything like that. But sadly, being the only real dining out establishment in this small town besides the lodge, the nine and many other students like to make frequent visits to my place of work, and tonight was that night.

I walked over to the young couple at table five gathering up their bill to get their change when I heard the Bell ring. I looked up to see one of my favourite pairs of regulars walk through the doors. As I headed to the cash I waved a quick hello to Edna and Michael and let them know subtly I'd be with them in a moment. Once the young couples funds were all settled I grabbed 2 mugs and a coffee pot and headed over to Edna and Michael. I started up our usual banter, "Hey you two, how was your trip up to Vancouver last week?" Edna and Michael had their share of children grow up and leave the home, but their youngest son, Connor had recently gotten married, and they stayed for the week to help with the arrangements. "Oh Sweet pea, it was just magical. You should have seen the love in their eyes as Connor saw Lacy walking down the aisle. He says hello by the way, he always loves hearing updates about you." Edna was beaming as she retold me some of the finer details from the wedding. "Speaking of updates, how have you been dear?" Michael looked to me with his kind eyes. "Oh you know me, same old Bella, just work and school." After a few more moments of conversation, I took down their order requests and filled their coffees, heading to the back to place the orders.

I worked on clearing off some of the recently vacated tables when I saw the nine walk through the doors, Jessica and Lauren leading the way, and Edward bringing up the rear **(A/N**: Giggle. I'm immature). He glanced my way briefly and flashed me his wicked crooked grin, it made my knees shake a little, but he paid me no other interest. I waited until they were all seated around the only booth large enough to encase them all before heading over to start with their drink orders. "Hey what can I get you guys?" I tried to project with a little bit of confidence towards the whole group. Alice gave me a kind smile and ordered cokes for herself and Jasper, Rosalie got a water, Emmett ordered a root-beer float with a grin, Edward and Tyler both asked for Cokes, Lauren a diet sprite and Jessica a diet coke. When it was time to look to Mike for his order, he asked for a chocolate shake, followed by a sleazy grin and a devious look in his eye. I turned to grab the order when Emmett called out "As much as I loved the entertainment earlier little Bells. Please try not to make our drinks come into contact with the floor!" That earned a few laughs from the table, and earned a slight blush from me.

I returned with their drinks shortly after, focusing intently on not tripping. I served the drinks out to the table and when I got to Mike he said, "Oh no sweet cheeks, I was hoping for a little shake out of your sweet chocolate." Tyler sniggered and offered up a high five, while Edward just rolled his eyes. I've got to tell you though, while it was pretty embarrassing, the anger won out on this particular case, I tried not to let it show as I was working and the nine have been known to rat me out for rudeness in the past. "I'm afraid that would be both unlikely and inappropriate Mike, was there something else… in _beverage_ form that I could interest you in?" I emphasized the word, and kept my tone as light as possible. "I guess I'll stick with this one if I can't get the real deal… for now that is" was his reply, it sent a shiver of disgust down my spine. Shaking off the feeling I grabbed their food orders quickly and with what I thought looked like a slight look of pity from Alice, I sped off to the kitchen as soon as possible.

I busied myself by taking out Michael and Edna's food and chatting with them a little and settling another table's bill, until the other food orders were ready to be delivered and served. I checked to make sure everyone was fine for drinks at the table, and made my way to check on Edna and Michael again. Some time went by and I was interrupted in my conversation with Edna and Michael when something small and firm hit me in the cheek. I looked in the direction it came from and saw Lauren and Jessica giggling behind their hands. Alice and Jasper looked off in their own World, Mike, Tyler and Emmett were lost to their food, Rosalie looked unimpressed but I did see a slight scowl across Edward's face. I made my way over to the table for the fourth time that night and asked if everything was all right. "This salad is like mushy," replied Jessica, "Yeah and these fries are like stale and cold" echoed Lauren. I looked down at Jessica's plate to see that the majority of her salad in question was finished. "I'm sorry you feel that way, would you like me to see about replacing it?" I asked with a forced smile on my face, they do this every time. I know for a fact that there is nothing wrong with their food, they just like to get a rise out of me. "Yeah like, we want it done again, but like, better" Jessica replied for the both of them unintelligently. I gave a slight nod and headed back over to the kitchen.

"Hey Denny!" I called out to the chef in the back, "What is it Bells?!" "Oh you know, the usual, Jessica's salad is soggy and Lauren's fries are cold and stale, wanna help me out?" I heard a chuckle as I replied, and gave in to the smile threatening to take over my face. Denny and I have running bets on how long it will take one of the nine to complain about their order. It seems as though he won this time, it was under 15 minutes. "Sure thing Bells, I'll have something ready in a few, and why don't you let me take it over to them personally?" He said with a wink. I gave him a knowing smile and walked off to tend to the rest of the tables. Denny is pretty good at making people feel like they are in the wrong… on occasion even when they are totally right. He realises the food we offer is cheap nourishment, but he doesn't appreciate the criticism. Denny's been working here for decades, the kitchen is his baby, just as the floor is Wendy's. Did I mention they're married? Its pretty sweet how they manage to live and work together in such harmony, they keep the diner flowing really well, and they're probably the best employers I could conceive of.

A while later, after Jessica and Lauren were reserved I had cleared Edna and Michael's plates, and they were sharing a piece of apple pie over their coffees. I made my way to the table where the nine sat to check if the bills were ready to be settled. This is always a headache. Lauren and Jessica spend a good five minutes arguing firstly, that their food was not good enough to be paid for, and secondly which boy they're going to try and guilt into paying for them. They usually end up reluctantly paying for themselves, and I've never once seen a real tip from either of them, although usually Alice or Jasper will shell out a little extra. Today was no different. I watched in silent laughter as Jessica cozied up to Tyler with an over-the-top puppy-dogged expression on her face that even the biggest of pushovers would never cave to. Once that ended they all piled their change onto the table. As they gathered up their jackets and went to the door, I bent towards the table to gather the bills, and felt a distinct pinch on my left butt-cheek. I spun around in surprise to find Mike Newton leering over me with his stench breath. You still owe me that shake later, Swan. I attempted to shove him off me and succeeded enough to get some breathing room. "You will never, and I repeat, never witness me, willingly giving you anything or any action involving any single part of my person. Ever." I spoke with as much acid as I could force into my voice and painted a scowl onto my face. Mike just laughed and walked away.

I finished collecting the money, depositing it into the till and huffed over to Clear and clean the table. "Listen, Bella… about Mike, I'm sorry" I looked over my shoulder only to be confronted with those emerald eyes I love so much, Edward… cue girlish sigh here? I know I know... pathetic… he doesn't actively help me at all during service but the moment his friends are gone, he pulls on his new face for me…this constant change in personalities is giving me whiplash. "Save it, just go on with your friends I know you want to." I replied with a sigh. He looked slightly defeated, but with one final glance he headed out the doors to join what looked like Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice in Emmett's monstrosity of a jeep.

The rest of my shift was a blur; Edna and Michael teased me a little over Edwards's seemingly caring nature, saying that I should go for a nice handsome man like him. They knowingly tease me over him ever since the one time I tripped with the box of cutlery, and while it still crashed to the floor, Edward saved me a few bruises by catching me… again.

I managed to get a solid amount of sleep that night, and woke up for my shift Saturday morning. It was fairly uneventful, Jake stopped by for coffee and a chat. Hal the school's janitor also showed up for his usual breakfast, which consisted of just about every single deep fried item on the menu, along with a steaming bowl of fibre-enriched oatmeal. I know, it's pretty strange... but he's a pretty funny guy. He also helps me out sometimes too, lets me know what hallways he's planning on mopping on the next Monday so I can avoid my usual slippage. When I was done work at 4:30 I hopped in my truck and started out towards Angela's place.

I made it about ¾ of the way there, when I heard a wheezing sputtering noise coming from the hood of my truck. Dammit! I don't even have my cell phone on me. If only Jake were here, he could fix it… or at least tell me what was wrong with it. Defeated, I crawled out of the warmth of my cab and made my way over to the hood of my truck, propping it open and peering inside. I let out a lingering sigh and slumped over the hood. Who am I kidding; I don't know the first thing about car maintenance. I was busy staring down my truck when I felt another person's presence approaching. "Bella?" a female voice was heard behind me. I turned around curiously, and was surprised to see Rosalie standing in front of me, and her car a ways ahead pulled over to the side as well. I guess I was busy giving my truck the evil eye and didn't notice her pull over. "Rosalie? Hi… what's up?" I replied nervously, we didn't really have much contact at school, not that that is a bad thing, I've heard before that she can be pretty vicious if she doesn't like you, and I can't imagine that I'm too far from crossing that fine line in her eyes. "I feel like I should be asking you that question, I know a bit about cars and saw your truck steaming over here. Would you like me to take a look at it?" she offered kindly, with a smile in place. I looked at her gaping dumbfounded, and finally found the words to say thank you. She pulled her loose blonde locks into a ponytail and leaned over the lip of my truck. I saw her rummage around a bit, go to her car and return with a long metal tool, I think it's a monkey something… She tinkered around for a while, before letting the hood fall with a resounding slam. "There, give that a try, I'm pretty sure one of the bolts came loose on your transmission," (A.N: I know nothing of cars, make believe here people.) she replied, "You should be good now, but you might want to take it in for an inspection soon." "Thank you so much Rosalie, I really appreciate you stopping to help me" I replied. She claimed it was no problem, gave me a quick wave and was off in her Red convertible. I made it the rest of the way to Angela's place unscathed, picked her up and with quick stops to grab some pizza and a movie, made our way back to my place.

Angela ended up staying until about midnight, we worked on some homework, watched the movie and ate our pizza in companionable conversation. I filled her in on some of the nastier things Mike and Jessica had said, and embarrassingly allowed her to relive my collapse into Emmett from the previous day. I drove her home quickly and made my way to bed, absolutely exhausted after staying up so late watching movies.

Thankfully, Wendy allowed me the following day off, so I got dressed lazily, made myself an extravagant breakfast for one, cereal + milk, mmmm yummy. And decided to head off to the library for the day. I couldn't wait to get myself lost in the classics contained within the walls of Forks' library. With a silent wave and a smile to the Librarian, I grabbed a few selections and made my way to a comfortable spot near a window, to enjoy a day of reading. Sinking my literary teeth into Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, I let the day pass by, until I was about halfway through the book. I decided to get up for a stretch, leaving my things on the chair, to take a quick stroll through the library shelves. I became draw into some of the beautiful imagery I saw on the covers of some texts in the history section, pertaining to the arts when I stumbled into another body. I looked over with an apology spouting off my lips to see Jasper Whitlock with a pile of books in his arms. "Oh no its nothing, I didn't see you there Bella. Sorry about that, I was pretty engrossed in this excerpt on this text." He was looking at me with a kind smile on his face. "I get that, I was looking at this book about Romanticism, what are you reading on? Is it for school?" "Mmm, not quite," He replied bashfully, "This one is on the civil war, we've just covered it in class, but I find it absolutely fascinating and was planning on reading up on it a little bit more." We continued to talk for a little while about our interest in reading, joking about how you'd never catch anyone else from school in the library on a Sunday. I found myself really enjoying our conversation and feeling oddly calm and peaceful in his presence. Being the first time I really had the chance to talk to Jasper, since I always thought he was shy, I was pleasantly surprised to see that he was completely unlike what I had internally categorized him as.

We walked out into the open area of the library and I showed him where I was reading. He grabbed a chair and dragged it near me, while we read on together in companionable silence. I heard my stomach growl, followed by a laugh from Jasper. I blushed, but decided it was about time to head home and cook some dinner for Charlie and myself. I let Jasper know I was heading out, thanked him for our conversation and headed over to Marla at the checkout desk and was on my way home. When I arrived back at my cozy house, I saw Charlie's cruiser parked out front. I cooked up some of Charlie's freshly caught fish from that day and we updated each other quickly on our lives. I grabbed my school bag and headed up to my room to finish my homework, and reflected on my weekend.

I couldn't believe how nice Jasper and Roaslie had been to me. I always thought that they were stuck up and aligned themselves with the likes of Lauren and Mike because of that. Now I wasn't so sure. I decided it didn't matter as long as they continued to treat me as the person of value they saw over the weekend.

I couldn't wait to go to school tomorrow, to see just what these new revelations would have in store for me. I hope that their opinions are just as high as mine, after we'd given each other these second glances.

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**A/N:**

--I apologize for Mike's fascination with Bella's butt, he just seems like he'd totally be an ass man... I can't stop myself from including it in pretty much every chapter

--Question: I haven't included a whole lot of Bella/Charlie bonding. Does this upset you? I can add some in the future… I just feel as though it is implied. But let me know, I'd like to know your thoughts.

-- I hope you're beginning to see, with this chapter and the last that the impressions Bella has of the nine aren't all necessarily true (with the exception of Mike Tyler Lauren and Jessica). I hope you're seeing the Cullens, Hales and McCarty's true colours show at least a little bit.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** If you were an amazing person and actually waiting for that update, then I must apologize for keeping it locked in my mind away from you.

In April I was finishing up my courses and exams and getting everything ready to move up to my summer home, and my summer jobs! So, needless to say I had a bit on my plate, and also had quite a case of writer's block. I do hope to be giving you more frequent updates, but my internet connection will be limited this summer.., so we'll see.  Hope you're having a great month of May! And wish me luck on my summer school course I'm doing online, mmm Shakespeare!

--------------------------------------- Five ------------------------------------------

Monday morning I woke up to a thunderstorm, Groaning as I rolled out of bed. I mean its not as if thunderstorms are unexpected, but when you're coming off a weekend, the last thing you want to see at the start of a new week is a thunderstorm outside your window. I pulled on jeans and a sweater, threw my hair in a bun and clomped downstairs to grab my breakfast.

"Morning Bells." I was surprised to see Charlie still home at this hour, I leaned over to give him a hug at the kitchen table "Hi dad, what are you still doing home?". He replied while I fixed my cereal that he had been called in late last night to deal with something so they let him come in a bit later this morning. "What was going on last night that was so important they had to call you out of bed?" This wasn't the first he'd been called in to deal with a situation but by the serious look on his face I was starting to get myself slightly worried. "Don't worry yourself over it Bella, had to deal with a run away from Port Angeles who's been trespassing and loitering late at night, making some young girls uncomfortable that's all. Think we scared him off Forks, had to drive him home though, that's a tough drive when you're tired." Trying to play along with his humour at the end, I gave a quick laugh but couldn't help noticing my cereal was slowly becoming unappetizing as the butterflies in my stomach grew. "Well, I'm off should be home tonight around 8, remember if you need me buzz the station I feel guilty leaving you home alone so often." He gave me a hug then headed for the door, waved goodbye and was off. In the next 15 minutes I finished up my breakfast, gathered my homework and pulled on my rain boots heading for my truck and a lovely rainy Monday at school.

Walking through the parking lot felt different this morning, and not because I had to shield myself from the downpour, but I had a feeling that things would be different today at school, I just wasn't sure why or how…

I got to English that morning on time, and sat down reading over some of my favourite parts of Romeo and Juliet while the rest of the class slowly dragged in before the bell rang. " Good morning class, Toda we're going to get right into it," Mrs. Masen said, "I'd like to have a class discussion on the themes of Romeo and Juliet, if you pay attention this may even prove to be helpful when writing your papers, which need I remind you are due on Friday. I'd like to set this up within the context of a debate, not a formal one, but I'd like to see you all build off of each others responses as we witnessed last week between Ms. Swan and Mr. Cullen." Mrs. Masen glanced my way with a smile in her eyes. Oh god, does she have to remind me of that embarrassing day? "Now first topic will be the feuding families. I'd like you to place these feuding families in the context of contemporary society, give me an example of a similar situation, or if you believe they do not exist, argue as such." I few people gave out groans as per usual, but I thought it was a fairly interesting question, it could definitely be applied to cliques, or riva sports teams… business companies... Everything really. No one was speaking, so I decided to voice my thoughts. They were received with a smile from Mrs. Masen, who waited for the rest of the class to contribute. "I agree with Swan" I heard the tell-tale voice of Edward... wait what? Agree? "There's definitely rivalry even in the most basic forms at high school, and they usually remain the same until someone pulls a Romeo and goes after the other side," I had turned to look at Edward giving his answer, and we locked eyes… there was something else there, but what was it? he continued "Usually that person is met with resistance from the other force… but if they persist, then it can end up in a business merge, or other positive ways.. kind of an interesting thought maybe Romeo and Juliet could have been saved if their families had buried their distain for one another." I was in shock; this is the Edward that needed help in English right? I looked down towards my desk, "Excellent, Edward and Bella, anyone else?" Mrs, Masen ran through 4 more topics including fate, imagery, love and isolation, and the topic of tragedy in general before the bell rang. I had warmed up significantly since this morning, so I pulled off my hoodie leaving me in a plain white long sleeved t-shirt with a small V-neck, pulling my hoodie over my arm I got up to head to my next class.

Trigonometry was brutal today; we got assigned close to a million different math problems all to be completed tonight, and with a 5-hour shift at the diner… I wasn't too sure I'd get them finished. I headed off to the cafeteria, grabbing a bagel and an apple before grabbing a seat with Eric Ben and Ang. "Hey guys" I greeted them as I threw my books and my sweater down beside me. The others greeted me with a smile and I decided to get a head start on the homework. Lunch passed quietly, until roughly halfway through. I was locked in quiet conversation with Angela about the possibility of a Port Angeles outing the following weekend when I heard some whispers behind me. I ignored them as well as I could but they got closer and louder. I turned to look and behind me were Lauren and Jessica, followed closely by Tyler carrying a try filled with their drinks and his spaghetti. "Hey Swan, where'd you get your jeans? The garbage dump? Maybe we can help your face match" and with that comment Jessica spun around grabbed Tyler's spaghetti and threw it towards my face. Having the worst reflexes ever, I attempted to shield my face, and managed to do so… only to result in the spaghetti landing squarely on my shirt. I couldn't look up, how could these girls be so mean? "Oh and Bella?" I heard Lauren add but didn't look up "This is payback" and as if the spaghetti wasn't enough, she poured the entire contents of her drink over my head as well. The whole cafeteria erupted in laughter while Lauren and Jessica exchanged high-fives and walked off with Tyler looking smug in tow. I could feel the moisture building in my eyes, so I stood up, brushing off Angela's hand and headed with my soaking wet self, books and sweater (they got hit with the aftermath) toward the girls washroom.

Once I reached the safety of the washroom I sunk down onto the floor with my head in my hands and let the tears flow. I couldn't understand why these girls would be so mean to me all the time. A few minutes passed as I tried to calm myself when I heard the door opening. "Bella?" I heard a higher tinkling voice that I identified as Alice Cullen before lifting my face and wiping my eyes. "Hey, are you alright? Sorry I didn't come sooner, but I thought you could use this…" She spoke as she handed me a plastic bag. "Call me over-prepared, but I always keep an extra t-shirt in my locker… it's smaller, but stretchy so it should be good." I looked up at her puzzled at her niceness. "Th-thank you" I croaked out while sniffling the remaining tears away. Alice turned around and took a seat beside me against the wall. "I really don't understand those girls, you didn't do anything to them, they just won't leave you alone... I'm really sorry. I wish I didn't hang out with them." She was looking at me with empathy shining from her eyes, but I was confused. "Why do you hang out with them? I mean, you could be hanging out with anyone… why them?" I asked her, "I don't have a very good answer really, its just kind of where I go you know? I stick with Jasper for the most part, and I'm good friends with Rosalie… and Edward is my brother, so we tend to just stick together… I don't even remember when they unofficially joined our group. I've been trying to distance myself from them as much as possible, but they tend to follow us where we go too… so its hard you know?" Her reply didn't really shock me, the camaraderie between herself Rosalie, Edward, Emmett and Jasper was palpable. "Well, you seem like a really nice person Alice, I mean I don't know you too well, and I've run into Jasper and Rosalie lately... and they were super nice as well… If you want something to change you have to be proactive about it" I don't know where this advice was coming from, but I continued, "It's the problem with high school and cliques in general, once you're in... Its hard to cross bridges, or get out of it." Alice was looking at me with a small smile on her face and mumbled to herself a little too loudly "Edward was right about you" Whoa what? "Oh its just that, he was telling me about how smart and nice you were, I know you agreed to keep your tutoring secret… but he's my brother we share everything. " I hadn't even realised I voiced my shocked question until halfway through her explanation. "Look the bell is going to ring soon, so you should change… but here's my cell phone number, let me know if you ever want to come shopping with me… that shirt is going to be ruined, maybe I can make it up to you." And with that Alice gave me a quick sideways huge and exited the bathroom leaving me in stunned shock with her number on a small piece of paper.

After pulling on the shirt Alice leant me, and she was right, the shirt was extremely small and stretchy, making me feel extremely as it hugged my every curve uncomfortable it was also a shade of blue I hadn't ever considered wearing. I really wished my sweatshirt hadn't gotten caught in the struggle as well. I made it to my locked, dumped my soggy trig books, I'd deal with those later and picked up what I needed to Biology, and made my way over there as quickly as possible. Since talking with Alice left me a little bit late for class, I hoped Mr Banner would understand. I stepped through the door and saw everyone with their textbooks out reading quietly, and walked over to Mr. Banner, who was sitting at his desk. I started to explain quietly "Sir, sorry I'm late, I had a-" he cut me off with a wave of his hand, and leaned towards me a bit in a whisper "Edward explained already, its alright go sit down" I turned to my desk and saw Edward's eyes on me as I walked over… he had the strangest look in his eye, and seemed to be staring right at my chest… oookay really wished I had my sweatshirt right now. I blushed furiously as I sat down which seemed to break him out of his stare. He coughed once and shifted in his seat, before quickly whispering our instructions for the period. We were to read silently the rest of the chapter. I was guessing Banner had another of his migraines. I leaned over my textbook, opened to the proper page and began to read silently, about 15 minutes in I felt Edward push a strand of my hair behind my ear as he slid a note towards me.

_It's really hard to concentrate on micro-biotics when you're sitting so closely, in that shade of blue. It's my favourite colour, and it looks lovely with your skin. _

_-Edward._

I felt myself blushing again, and looked at Edward. It's going to be really hard to concentrate after that statement. I gave him a little smile and turned to reply on the note.

**I've never worn this colour before, so thank you. Alice came to my rescue in the washroom after the incident, which was really nice of her, but I feel a little over-exposed and uncomfortable.**

**-Bella**

I slid the note back toward him, and watched as he read it over, while hoping I wouldn't regret being so honest with him. When he seemed finished, he unzipped his black hooded sweatshirt, pulled it off and slipped it around my shoulders. I stared at him in shock for a moment, surrounded in the warmth of his sweatshirt before my blush became even more pronounced, with a quick look around the room that denied my suspicions that everyone was staring at our exchange, I pulled my arms through the sleeves and wrapped it around my torso. Edward grabbed the note and began to scrawl a reply in his elegant script.

_You should never have to feel uncomfortable because of Jessica and Lauren, and I hope that my comment didn't make you more uncomfortable. Oh and I meant to ask you, I'm having a bit of trouble with my paper, but I know you're busy with work, I was wondering if I could text you, or e-mail you... just for a few quick fixes? That is if you don't mind…_

_-Edward_

I gave him a quick nod after reading and scrawled my phone number and my e-mail address with a quick note that either was fine. For the remainder of the period we both read quietly and didn't add anything else to our note. The bell rang and I got up and began to unzip the sweatshirt, but was stopped by Edward's hands. I felt a jolt of electricity at our connecting skin, but brushed it off as static electricity. "Don't worry, I'll get it from you on Friday, keep it on, I don't want you to be cold when you go home." I thanked him quietly, grabbed my books and followed him out of the classroom, which had apparently emptied during out exchange. We walked wordlessly down the hall together until we had to separate at the end with a quick wave I made my way to gym class. Thankfully gym class turned out to be a health day, and was spent sitting in the classroom learning about different venereal diseases, woo hoo, lovely. Not.

I made my way to my truck after school thankful for the warmth of Edward's sweatshirt, tucked my head into the hood and buried my face into the sides inhaling deeply, I'm not going to lie, he smelt ridiculously awesome… Like Pine trees and musk and deliciousness. Breathing it in was heaven; especially knowing he was so kind about giving me his sweatshirt, he must be freezing right now. I hopped into the cab of my truck and made my way home to get started on my trig homework before I had to head over to the diner at 4.

After my shift at the diner, during which Charlie actually stopped in for dinner, I headed home to finish my trigonometry homework. With enough questions to last me into the early morning and enough to reflect on from the day's events, I was in for a brutal ride the next day at school, and hoped for at least 3 hours of shut-eye.

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**A/N:** Hope you enjoyed that one, especially the little Alice scene. Let me know what you're thinking! Looking forward to the next chapter, hopefully you are too!


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